元気 in Gamagori

I love this place. How could you not considering there are postboxes with cute mandarins on top!! Not only am I privileged to visit this place two weeks in a month because two of my schools are here, but also I spent a lovely Sunday here recently with a friend. Here being of course the charming city of Gamagori 蒲郡. With a population of just over 80,000 (thank you wikipedia) it is significantly smaller than where I live. However I think I like it better. If I could I would move here. It is still conveniently located to get to other places and it has some interesting places to visit in your free time. 

So where did my friend and I go on our day here? To eat melon of course. Delicious super expensive melon. I have seen them retail from $10 to as much as $100 or more. While personally I can never imagine spending so much money on a piece of fruit there are obviously people out there who do. Secretly I kind of wish one of them would buy me one, especially a square watermelon. We went to the Gamagori Orange Park which at this time of year grows grapes and melons, to have all-you-can-eat Melon and BBQ lunch. I was impressed by the melon we ate, but not enough to buy a whole one to take home. However I do enjoy going to these kinds of places to go "fruit picking" and hopefully I will be able to go apple picking soon and strawberry picking in the spring.

As recommended by some colleagues of ours we decided to go to a place called Laguna. I was not sure exactly what to expect. I knew it was a place where you could get a pedicure from carnivorous fish but I was unsure of what else was available. In the end much to my disappointment I did some lovely things but missed out on my flesh eating fish experience. Seriously I have actually been wanting to try this for a while but each time I miss out. NEXT TIME I will definitely go.

So what did we do instead? Well at Laguna is a large shopping center and although that in itself is enjoyable what ended up fascinating us was the fish market. I am sure it doesn't compare to others that can be found in Japan but to a landbound Australian I thought it was wonderful. Not because I was going to buy a fish to take home but because you could select from many stores what you wanted to eat and they would prepare it fresh and you ate it there. We had some kind of large oyster grilled in front of us, eel deliciously crispy but a little bit charred, squid and the best dish of the night sashimi on rice. The best sashimi was tuna prepared similarly to a tartare. It was rich in flavour and went superbly with rice. There was complementary green tea as well. What impressed me greatly were the number of children eating all the different kinds of fish. I cant imagine Australian children being as open to some of the different kinds of seafood available. We spent so much time eating (or deciding what to eat) that we didn't even check out the shops on the second floor. Therefore I hope to make another trip here again soon.

Now that I am in Japan....

One of the things that makes me realise that I am no longer in Kansas...I mean Canberra is the gradual change of season into Autumn. The time of leaves and apparently viewing them as well. But more importantly the time of Autumn themed KitKats. We have the Caramel Pudding Flavour, the Chestnut Flavour and ordinary ones. I like the ordinary and chestnut ones best. The caramel ones are just too sweet!! I still wish that there were strawberry ones which are by far my favourite but perhaps I have to wait until spring for those. As even chocolate in Japan follows the dictates of the season.

For those of you who don't already know I am living in a small apartment with disappointingly limited cooking facilities. This is a picture taken a few days after arriving and I have improved things since then. The disgusting second fridge down the bottom has been removed to the balcony and I have utilised the space to store pots and pans. I have also added a trim to hide the rust. You can buy all sorts of stick on laminate stuff from the 100yen stores and this has been very useful. I have also bought a most glorious and wonderful portable gas stove. So now I can cook rice and what I intend to eat with it at the same time!! Future plans include a microwave purchase.
To christen my new gas stove I made a Japanese gratin, I suppose its really just a glorified pasta bake. It has chicken, spinach and mushrooms in it as well as spaghetti pasta. I cheated and used a Japanese packet mix although reading the instructions can be a bit hit and miss so I think I achieved something regardless. Next time I will make the white sauce from scratch. I melted the cheese on top using the common toaster oven which is like a portable grill. They are in most houses in Japan. This attempt has proven to me that I can use my tiny kitchen to achieve delicious food. Now all I have to do is decide what to make next.